Arcania - Preview @ Hooked Gamers

[magerette]

Hooked Gamers (http://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/arcania_a_gothic_tale/preview/article-621.html) posts a preview of JoWood's Arcania: A Gothic Tale going over some of what's known about the title so far.
Here's a snip from the beginning of the article:
In May of 2008, publisher JoWood Entertainment decided to rebrand the fourth entry in the Gothic series as Arcania: A Gothic Tale. This name change served two purposes: to represent the increased role of magic in the game's world and to give the Gothic franchise a fresh start in North America.

In terms of the second purpose, the Gothic series is known for its wandering open-world role-playing experiences, comprehensive stories, and stunning environments. As such, it has a very passionate following in Europe, akin to Bioware's fan-base in North America. But the series is also known for being inaccessible and very buggy, which is perhaps why it has yet to breach the mainstream North American market....
...Unfortunately, Spellbound and JoWood have revealed very little about the game since its 2008 name change. Information on the game has been so scarce that the Gothic community wrote an open letter to JoWood in September 2009 expressing their concern about outdated screenshots, low quality videos, and general lack of information. Since that letter, more Arcania screenshots have trickled out from Spellbound and JoWood, but information remains scarce - not something to boost confidence.

More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=14414)

[mazling]

Too many games vanish without a trace - let's hope this isn't another one. I wonder how it will compare to Risen and Two Worlds 2 ...

[northreign]

Can they dig themselves out with Arcania or just dig deeper....

At least they haven't released a mess thus far.

[Daroou]

Certainly keeping my eye on this one. Loved the armour screenshot renders they released a long time ago.

[TheMadGamer]

It's strange to me to draw one conclusion or another (bad or good) simply because there isn't much info released by the developer. Yeah you can speculate that maybe there are problems with the game because there is little info. But to lead and end an article on this premis is strange.

[northreign]

It's strange to me to draw one conclusion or another (bad or good) simply because there isn't much info released by the developer.

There are good reasons for that.

I'm just going to cite one game of many, Tiberium, where some info was released, then it was delayed, little more released, then canceled because it didn't go so well.

If there's nothing to release, they are heavy in development, coupled with a delay from the original estimate, especially coupled with it being JoWood who famously delayed Gothic 3 only to release a non-finished highly buggy game later, probably means that the development of Arcania is not going so well and based on my thoughts from what they released last year, it probably isn't.

That's not to say that it can't not be going well, but suffice it to say there are plenty of examples out there.

[ToddMcF2002]

It could be they haven't decided how to market it yet? Based on the vids we have seen it was very actiony, maybe they are undoing some of that.

[TheMadGamer]

There are good reasons for that.

There might be. But it's all speculation... which is fine on user forums like this one. But to put out a 'professional' article on the net drawing a sort of conclusion that it is worrisome that there is no ongoing info about the game in and of itself is still strange to me.

...especially coupled with it being JoWood who famously delayed Gothic 3 only to release a non-finished highly buggy game...

Now that argument would make a lot more sense in an article... that JoWood is involved as the publisher of the game considering the state of the release of G3.

[northreign]

Ah, now I see what you were implying. Don't know much about Hooked Gamers, but yeah, they should be putting a more positive spin on it if they're that kind of a web site. You are right =)

[Maylander]

Still keeping this on my radar, but my expectations are generally low.

[Acleacius]

Spending too much time on pretty, is not a good sign. One thing you can count on this publisher to do, is the wrong thing. I'm not saying they couldn't do the right thing, just 80% of the time they won't, don't nor will not.

Seriously, doubt I will even blame the developer if there are problems, especially when an manipulative, controlling, obsessive compulsive overlord is calling all the shots.

[vanedor]

Jowood are the one who published G3 :Forsaken gods.

Do I need to say more?

[Tragos]

I own several Jowood 's games and most of them are of good quality .

I don't know if it is common to release a FAQ (http://www.jowood.com/?lang=en&site=5&iid=12379&gameid=arcania&faq=19) before releasing the game tho